The present invention relates to a system for detecting a total or partial obstruction of at least one internal fluid pipe of a tool. The invention is particularly advantageously, but not exclusively, applicable to the control of machining tools having one or several internal pipes used to supply the functional elements of the tool with liquid or gaseous lubricant or coolant, such as oil, an oil emulsion, a mist made up of air and oil, or the like.
EP 2320199 teaches the implementation of a method for detecting agglomerates of particles in a conduit using a flowmeter. The system determines abrupt changes in flow and provides an alarm signal when the flow rate departs from the expected boundaries. Similarly, document FR 2851819 describes the use of an electrostatic flowmeter measuring the quantity of aggregate particles of a two-phase flow. The detection elements are arranged in a tubular detection element.
However, in the case of tools provided with internal pipes having a small section, such systems are capable of detecting the complete obstruction of the pipes, but not a partial obstruction, since the leak is too small and is not detected. This is due to the limited measuring precision of a standard flowmeter. There is therefore a risk of not detecting a partial obstruction of the internal pipes with a small section, which may deteriorate the operation of the tool, and therefore the manufacturing chain performance.
Furthermore, DE102006052602, DE102007016326 and FR2972982 describe methods making it possible to detect the obstruction of an internal pipe of a tool by comparing a measured pressure to reference pressure curves. However, these methods are based on pressure measurements done in specific configurations that do not make it possible to obtain sufficient measuring accuracy to detect a partial obstruction of pipes having a small section.